The Fire Within
by DarkWolf133
Summary: With a new year, new things come. Some are good, some are bad. But can the Smashers and their newest members survive this new danger? Will they manage to group together and fight back, or will they fall to the flames of their own rivalries?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hi everyone! I hope you guys like this story, so without further ado, let's get started!**

**Prelude**

The short, red-capped plumber clenched his fists as the echoing voice counted down. His opponent, who stood across the field, showed no sign of preparing for battle. But that didn't mean the slender, spiked Darkling wasn't ready for a battle. The moment "Fight!" Was yelled, signaling the start of the round, the figure flipped into the air, dodging the Italian's classic fireball attack. It came down behind him, a sword appearing in its hand...

**Chapter 1**

Master Hand floated in front of the gathered Smashers, the mic pushed off to the side, unneeded. His booming voice echoed throughout the large room, coming from no viewable mouth or source. "Here we gather to welcome in the new year of Smash, but also to prepare for the new arrivals, and remind ourselves of our purpose. Can anyone tell us what that purpose is?"

The oldest Smashers respectfully kept quiet, knowing that the question was directed at the newest Smashers, those who had been only recruits the previous year. Sonic, over-confident as usual, burst out an answer first. "To show who's the best fighter, and stop those annoying baddies that try to take over multiple worlds!"

Master Hand sighed, slightly exasperated. "Close enough. We're here to stop extradimensional threats."

Sonic shrugged. Master Hand couldn't have expected him to remember such a big word, right? The over-sized floating hand continued, pushing on toward the end of his speech. "As in the past years, we have invited new, promising fighters from other worlds to train with us. However, this year will be far different from past years. As you all know, our Universe is one of many. Sonic and Snake are both from other Universes, but both of these are neighbors, and relatively close by. Due to Sonic's friend, Tails, assisted by our other technological gifted fighters, we have been able to send out the message to Universes much farther away. Due to this, none of you may recognize the new recruits. But I do promise you, they are the best fighters from their worlds. They should do well."

Mario spoke up. "And just-a when are they arriving?"

"They should be arriving in the Smash Kingdom throughout the next week."

The Smashers nodded, thoughts and fantasies racing through their minds. Who might these new recruits be? What would they look like? Master Hand interrupted them with his next words. "We need to prepare though."

Immediately, Bowser spoke up. "You don't mean clean, do you?" His eyes were wide. Cleaning was something all the Smashers hated, since they never did work together quite well enough to avoid smashing at least one hole in the wall.

Master Hand formed a thumbs up, since nodding was impossible without a head. "I do. The list is already posted on the Message Board."

All the Smashers groaned, and trudged off, knowing that the meeting was over. Even though they had to do it every year before the new recruits came, they kept hoping that maybe, just maybe, they wouldn't have to do it this year.

**The next day...**

Sonic stumbled slightly on the slippery surface, and quickly scrambled to his feet, staring wide-eyed at the water below. "Nobody even comes down here anymore!" He wailed through his hand to his comrade, Captain Falcon. Falcon just grunted, more excited about being able to hold the torch than watching Sonic's obvious discomfort. The blue-furred hedgehog poked the walls of the cavern, noting the amount of moss and mildew growing upon it.

"Fine. Pass me the rag. If we have to get it clean, then we will." Sonic grumbled, mostly talking to himself. Falcon tossed the freshly cleaned and moistened rag to Sonic, wetting down another for himself. Sonic caught it and began scrubbing the walls, still complaining to himself. Finally, Captain Falcon had had enough.

"Would you rather scrub the bathrooms?"

Sonic paused, the thought processing itself in his mind. After a moment, it clicked. "No way! At least there's less of a stink down here!" Falcon laughed, and they both continued scrubbing in a much happier mood, now that they'd thought about how much worse it could have been.

**Meanwhile...**

Kirby grinned slightly, his chef's hat perched on top of his round head/body. He'd been assigned to cook, since Princess Peach was the only one willing to clean the bathrooms, and he was excited. With a quick bounce, Kirby was on top of the counter, opening every cabinet and drawer that contained food. In moments, he'd assembled an impressive pile of very random ingredients. Taking a step back to examine what was available, Kirby pondered what to make. There was plenty of lettuce, carrots, broccoli, celery, and other various vegetables. He could make a salad. But with what? There was a full ham he'd pulled from the freezer. Or there was hot dog packets. Kirby grinned slightly as he remembered when he'd used extra-spicy bratwurst. The rest of the Smashers probably wouldn't trust him if he used any hot dogs. An idea popped into his head, and he pulled out the flour. Adjusting his hat, Kirby set to work.

Link, who had been on his way to clean up the extra bedrooms, paused as he heard the humming from the kitchen. Peeking in, the tall Hyrulian quickly had to dodge a few eggs that were flying around the room. His eyes widened as he saw why. Kirby had created a sort of vortex using his 'swallow' ability. Quickly, Link exited the kitchen before his hat got blown off and into the other ingredients sailing around the kitchen.

**And on the 'less cooperative hand'...**

Bowser's eye twitched slightly. The piles of bricks and lumber were intimidating enough without the size of the holes he was supposed to patch. By his side, Mario let out a stifled sigh. Why Master Hand had chosen for the pair of arch-enemies to work together to repair the castle was unknown to him, but Bowser was fairly certain it wouldn't end well. With a growl, Bowser grabbed the hammer that sat on top of the lumber pile and thrust it at Mario. "You hammer, I build."

Mario frowned. "How can I-a be-a sure that you won't burn the wood? You do breathe-a fire after all."

"I won't. Your too weak to carry those heavy bricks. So you hammer."

"You think I-a am too weak?!" Mario pulled out a mushroom, and quickly gulped it down. After a moment, he grew taller than Bowser.

Bowser glowered at Mario, which was still surprisingly intimidating despite the fact that he was looking up at the plumber. "Just. Let. Me. DO IT!" He roared, sending Mario back a step in surprise.

"How about you carry-a the bricks, and I carry-a the wood?" Mario reached out his hand, offering a deal. Bowser sighed, but decided to just let it go. He grabbed Mario's hand and shook it.

"Let's-a go!" Mario tossed the hammer to Bowser, who caught it with ease. Then the over-sized plumber picked up a pile of wood and began walking toward on of the holes. Bowser tucked into his shell and spun over, dodging ahead of Mario. Mario began stacking the wood, reassembling the wall. Bowser pulled a nail from the bucket nearby and began hammering the boards together. After a few hole-patchings of doing this, Bowser accidentally missed, and hit Mario's thumb with the hammer.

"O-o-ow!" Mario smacked Bowser across the stomach, sending him tumbling to the ground. Bowser got up and roared, charging at the still over-sized plumber. Just as Bowser was about to send a powerful punch into Mario's stomach, the mushroom effects wore off, and Mario shrank. Bowser sailed overhead as Mario ducked to avoid the large turtle. Bowser smashed through a wall, tumbling into the kitchen where Kirby was busy mixing up dinner.

The pink puffball stared at the large, spiked shell that had suddenly crashed through the wall and into the pile of ingredients. He began to puff up, and Bowser's eyes widened. "SPIKY TURTLE SHELL NOT GO IN QUICHE!" Kirby grabbed a large skillet from above the stove and began bashing Bowser's head in. Mario watched the whole incident with wide, surprised eyes. Then Kirby tossed the skillet out the hole in the wall, having smacked Bowser into 'La La Land', and knocked Mario out as well.

When Master Hand made it to the scene to figure out what the commotion was, he was quite surprised to see an unconscious Mario lying on the ground next to the jumbled mess of wood. And then he saw the large hole in the wall, with a cheerful Kirby using an unconscious Bowser as a stool while he cooked. Master Hand sighed, and floated away. Mario and Bowser would wake up soon enough to finish fixing the walls.

**That night...**

The Smashers all gathered around the table, their stomachs growling from the delicious smells. Finally, Kirby emerged with Zelda and the two Ice Climbers in tow, all carrying multiple pie dishes. Link blinked, slightly surprised. After all, who had heard of pie for dinner? But then, Kirby had been the one cooking, so...

Kirby set his pile of pie dishes on the table, and proclaimed with a large smile: "QUICHE!"

The Smashers each grabbed a pie dish, looking skeptically at its contents. It wasn't pie, that was for sure. But, they decided it smelled good enough, and went to go sit down at the tables scattered throughout the room. Kirby watched them go happily, having already eaten his fill while cooking.

The Smashers talked cheerfully as they ate, complaining about their jobs for the day, or sympathizing with their friends. Zelda laughed as Link told her the curious thing Kirby had been doing while cooking, and then told him a story of her own. Bowser griped and complained about having to work with Mario while Ganondorf just sat and ate, silently listening. Everything was going along smoothly, or as smoothly as possible with a bunch of Smashers, for Fox and Falco had ended up starting a wrestling match in the back corner. Master Hand watched them from his office, which was situated above the cafeteria. He let out a soft sigh of relief, satisfied that everything had gone relatively smoothly today, and picked up a pencil, writing in a large book.

A loud crash was heard, like the sound of shattering glass. The Smashers turned in surprise, their gazes automatically falling upon the two fighting pilots. But Fox and Falco were also looking around, confused. After a few moments of tense silence, a loud "HI!" jolted the Smashers back into reality. They looked around wildly, searching for the source of the sound. At last, their gazes rested upon the figure who now stood in the center of the room.

**A/N: Due to the overpoweredness of Tails' portal creator, anything can be a new recruit. I've already got some that I'll be using, as evident from the Prelude, but if you guys have anything you really want added, let me know! And it can be from a video game, a book, TV show, some random dude's imagination, you name it! But these new recruits aren't the center of the story, so just remember that.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I'm terribly sorry it took so long for me to update. I've been super busy and writing an average of a paragraph a day. But here it is! Chapter 2! With our first arrival as well!**

The Smashers stared at the round figure that sat in their midst. They already had three puffballs in their ranks, and now another? But this puffball wasn't quite a puffball. It was covered in golden scales, with two small fins that floated by its sides. A large smile formed on its face, its two golden eyes wide with excitement.

Abruptly, it bounced into the air, revealling a pile of broken shards and a puddle of water. The water rose up as the shards melted, encasing the fish-like creature and forming a small globe of water. It landed again and began bouncing up and down. "Sorry, I'm a little early! The galactic tide was perfect though, so my journey was sped up quite significantly!"

Link, who was partially horrified by the strange creature, whispered to Zelda. "What is it?"

* * *

Master Hand sighed, having noticed the commotion. Obviously, one of the new recruits had arrived early. He snapped his hand, which technically was his entire body, and teleported into the cafeteria. It was handy to be able to teleport anywhere within the confines of the mansion. Master Hand began speaking. "Welcome to the Smash Mansion."

**Later that night...**

Falco sat on his bed, staring disbelief at the creature who was now his roommate. "So...you're called a 'Fish-ball'?"

The 'so-called Fish-ball' bounced up and down on its bed, which was really just a pillow thrown on the floor between Falco's and Fox's beds. Fox was busy washing the dishes, a job that Falco was dreading, since he'd have to do it tomorrow. "Yep! But you can call me Fishy!" Fishy spoke in between bounces.

Falco groaned. "Who even named you? You have the most ridiculous name ever!"

Fishy bounced again, executing a flip while in midair. "Ridiculous? I don't know what you mean by that!"

Falco scowled, noticing that Fishy had left out who had named him. He was assuming Fishy was a guy, since he'd been put in a room filled with guys, but it was sort of hard to tell with the high-pitched squeaky voice. It was as if the thing was a rubber bouncy ball combined with a squeaky toy! Falco sighed, and laid back on his bed. "Never mind. What can you do, anyways?"

Fishy bounced up again, grinning. _That thing just never stopped bouncing!_ "Well, for starters, I can control water!"

Falco nodded. "So we saw. Can you only manipulate it?"

Fishy stopped bouncing to glare at the racer. _Thank the gods! _"For your information, I can control water in all forms. I could suck the water out of your bloodstream if I wanted to. Heck, I could flood a desert without breaking a sweat!"

Falco laughed. "Yeah, well, that's pretty easy. A desert doesn't absorb the water very easily. Is that what you did to the world you're from? What are you, like, a main villain or something?"

Fishy was practically twitching with rage. Thankfully for a certain Fox, he was relatively skilled at not expressing his anger. "I control the tides. I am one of the three water gods of the puffball universe. Do. Not. Mock. Me."

Unfortunately for a certain Fox's health, Fox laughed. "So what was your talk about the tides turning in your favour? If you control them, then why didn't you do so?"

"I control water tides. Those were the Galactic Tides that are made up of the stuff of black matter and stardust."

Falco shrugged nonchalantly. "Okay. You know...I should totally eat you, since that's what birds to do to fish."

"You wouldn't be able to eat me. I wouldn't let you."

"Oh yeah? I'm definitely stronger than you. It wouldn't be any challenge to beat you. I mean, you're just a fish in little ball of water!"

Fishy floated into the air, his eyes glowing. "I. Said. Stop. MOCKING ME!"

* * *

Bowser and Mario were in the process of putting the tools away, having finished repairing the multitude of holes in the castle, when they heard a scream from overhead. They looked at each other, and then looked up. Falco was rapidly disappearing into the distance, and there was a new hole in the wall. Simultaneously, they sighed.

**The Next Day...**

Ike groaned. He'd been up far too late the previous night, and now he'd been forced to get up early to cook breakfast for everyone. Without getting his own. And to make matters worse, Samus was yelling at him. Why Master Hand had paired him with that temperamental woman was beyond his sleepy comprehension.

"GET YOUR MIND OUT OF THE GUTTER AND HELP WHISK THIS BATTER!" Her voice pierced through his ears and his thoughts. Ike sighed, his eyes still barely open from tiredness. He did manage to grab ahold of the whisk and bowl though, without spilling its contents everywhere. Eyes still closed, the swordsman began stirring the batter.

After what seemed like only a few moments, the bowl was ripped out of Ike's hands. "Move. I need the stove." Samus shoved him to the side, though it wasn't very effective. So Ike stepped to the side and quickly proceeded to fall asleep while standing up.

He was woken again by the sound of Samus's very enraged voice. "FOR GOD'S SAKE, GO GET THE FIRE EXTINGUISHER!" Ike opened one eye, and was quickly woken up by the sight of the kitchen on fire. Samus was attempting to control the fire using the sink and a towel, but it was quickly getting out of control. He raced from the room, looking for that red can that was always resting in its glass case on the wall nearby. Spotting it, Ike simply smashed the glass with Ragnell, and ran back to the kitchen with the fire extinguisher. Once there, he promptly sprayed everything (including the non-burnt breakfast and Samus) in an attempt to put the fire out.

The fire out and the kitchen covered in foam, Ike stared meekly at the furious bounty hunter. She was coated in the stuff, and didn't look too happy about it.

* * *

Link looked down at his stomach, which was growling at him as if it had rabies and was about to eat Link himself. "Wasn't breakfast supposed to be ready an hour ago?

Zelda shrugged, her own stomach having been silenced earlier from her secret stash. "Supposedly. Considering who we are, nothing is on time, but an hour is a little far-fetched."

Link opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted by a freshly-cleaned Samus entering the cafeteria and bellowing "ALL RIGHT SMASHERS! BREAKFAST IS SERVED!"

Ike cautiously stepped out from behind Samus, partially buried in pancakes. Almost immediately, he was knocked over by a stampede of hungry smashers, who rallied under the universal cry of "FOOOOOD!" (Started by Kirby)

* * *

Master Hand sighed. If it weren't for the fact that it would be physically impossible, he would facepalm. Not that he had a face to begin with. But as he sat at his desk, watching the chaos through his computer/viewscreen, Master Hand pondered about how lucky it was that Ike's only chore for that day was to cook breakfast. For, judging by the chaos that was ensuing as food was consumed, Ike would be in no shape to do much for at least today, if not tomorrow.

**Later that morning...**

Falco sighed. Of course it was him who had to wash dishes. How unlucky that it also required cleaning up the entire kitchen, since it had been set on fire. With his head hanging low, Falco submitted himself to his fate and began trudging toward the kitchen. Because he was staring at his feet, Falco didn't notice that Fishy was right in front of him until he ran straight into the newcomer. Fishy quickly bounced in front of Falco, attempting to offer a hand. "I'm sorry! I was looking at the walls instead of where I was going!"

Falco glared the Fishball. He hadn't forgotten about being launched through a wall the previous night, but obviously Fishy had. "Why don't you just run along and do your job?"

Fishy bounced up and down. "What job?"

Falco frowned. "We're cleaning house. Everyone has a job."

"Well, I guess that I'm an exception then! I'd love to help though."

Falco smiled, a plan formulating in his head. "How about this..."

* * *

Zelda was busy dusting off the multiple trophies and decorations that were displayed in what one would call the living room, when there was a knock at the door. She sighed and set down the feather duster she'd been using, before walking over to the front door. The door was huge, probably about 12 feet tall. It was one of the few things throughout the Smash Castle that had never even been scratched. Not even when they got attacked. In fact, this whole room was still in the pristine condition it was when the castle had been built.

Zelda opened the door, smiling warmly. "Hello. Are you one of the new smashers?"

The person who stood there had shaggy black hair, which covered most of his forehead. He wore gray robes, with red and gold trim on them. A stick, presumably a wand of some sort, poked out of a small pocket. His piercing green eyes stared into Zelda's with a confidence, something that one didn't see on too many newcomers. "Yes. I am."

**Here are the selected newcomers so far:**

**Kid Goku-Research required, and thus will not appear for a while**

**Harry Potter-Thank you for suggesting this one! But it'll be from around the 3-4th books.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except for the storyline and Fishy.**


End file.
